About TVNZ

Technology Changes Television

In 1971 there was a major breakthrough for international news
when the Warkworth Satellite Station was opened. Now stories from
the other side of the world were no longer an international flight
away - as had been the case four years earlier when Apollo 11
landed on the moon and New Zealanders had to wait until footage was
flown across the Tasman by the RNZAF. The first live international
broadcast was in 1973 when Princess Anne married Captain Mark
Philips. Another cornerstone was marked in 1989 when TVNZ appointed
its first foreign-based correspondents with Susan Wood in Sydney
and Liam Jeory in London.

For its first 14 years, New Zealand television was a black and
white world. The target delivery date for colour television for all
New Zealanders was when the country hosted the 1974 Commonwealth
Games. There weren't enough facilities to cover all of the Games in
colour, however viewers were able to see swimming, track and field
and boxing.

New technological advances in the 1980's introduced videotape to
replace film and in 1985, 24 hour a day access to satellites meant
that international news footage was available on demand.